Despite sharing many of the same foods and traditions as neighbouring Sweden, Finland is a little more unconventional than their Scandinavian neighbours therefore the Finnish “Joulu” in Finland has its own distinct charm. What would you expect from the home country of Santa Claus? Rovaniemi, located in the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, claims the title of Santa’s hometown. This is where good boys and girls of all ages can visit Father Christmas at the ‘Santa Claus Village’, while at the same time enjoying other Arctic activities like dog sledding, reindeer sleigh riding, snowshoeing and northern lights hunting. In Finland, Santa was not always the jolly old fellow we know and love today: ‘Joulupukki’ in Finnish is also the name for the ‘Christmas Goat’, a rather frightening goat-like creature wearing a mask and a pair of horns on his head in the old days. But over time the Joulupukki story turned into the gift-giving, reindeer sleigh-riding figure: the modern Santa may drop down the chimney in other countries the night before Christmas, but in Finland he makes short home visits during family Christmas Eve dinners and knocks on the front door, like a gentleman. Christmastime in Finland brings some delicious festive treats: like the Swedish ‘julbord’, the Finnish ‘joulupöytä’ is a rich assortment of cold and warm dishes you can try, to be matched by some “glögi”, alcoholic or non-alcoholic mulled wine. Round off your meal with the Christmas rice pudding, flavoured with cinnamon, which often has a blanched almond hidden inside: as in the Danish ‘Risalamande‘, whoever discovers it in their bowl gets a small gift. Finally, it would not be a proper Finnish Christmas without Finnish sauna: parents might even tell their children to leave a little offering, such as a bucket of water, for the ‘Saunatonttu’, the friendly ‘sauna elf’.
